Amazon started charging TAX today in my state so I went ahead and placed on order for a M652i-B2 yesterday sans sales tax.

I've got a Sharp 60SQ ( paid $1635) at home that I'm auditioning would love to see this TV come out before my 45 day return window is up @ BestBuy!

I think your chances are good and sincerely hope you get some overlap time between the M652i-B2 and the Sharp 60SQ - would be very interested in how you compare those two TVs (especially the dark-level performance and shadow detail of the M verus the SQ against the apparent resolution and sharpness of the SQ versus the M).

Well, Im just wondering what kind of panels these 2014 M Series 42" 49" and 50" will have.

Im thinking about buying the Insignia 48" 60Hz direct lit Led with an Samsung/Sony 10th gen S-PVA panel for $400 for the time being.

I have 2 sets with S-IPS panels and would like to try something different. The Vizio M501D has S-IPS. The M401i with it's good native blacks panel is a bit too small for what Im looking at. 42" to 50". Maybe one of the E Series with their AUOptronics MVA panels?

I still wish Panasonic was producing plasmas so we didnt have to hear about how wonderful they are constantly and how inferior LCD all the time from Plasma Fanboys.

Plasmas arent better than LCDs they are different. Your preferences may lean toward Plasma being a better solution for you, that doesnt make them better display technology, no matter how far down the narscisist hole you may dwell.

LCD manufacturers arent trying to create Plasma like images, they are trying to improve the image quality of LCD technology. Deal with it. That's like saying that Plasma manufacturers are trying to create LCD like images when they work on improving their dingy whites on all white frames. It's dumb.

The OLED threads are filled with disgruntled Plasma Fanboys, talking about how great Plasma was compared to OLED's drawbacks and technical problems. Give it a rest. Fergawdsake!

WELL SAID!
I watched a hockey game at my cousin's house on a old tube tv(crt) and it reminded me of my plasma, old gray and grainy looking picture. Maybe if I open the curtains and let the light in, maybe plasma will go away!

I have been watching this thread and even the 2013 M series thread for 18 months or so now. I am hoping to replace my 10 year old 30" and 37" Sharp Aquos screens. Very old units, no HDMI, no digital tuners, separate connection boxes , etc. Looking forward very much to a new 2014 50" M for the bedroom and a 70" M for the living room. Today I came across this and my jaw dropped. Big content reveals scheme to charge for larger screens

Professional reviewers and those in the industry almost unanimously regard plasmas (VT60, ZT60, ST60, F8500) as having superior PQ to LCDs. This is also confirmed by standards adhered to by calibrators. One of the few exceptions the last few years has been the Sharp Elite and to a lesser extent the Sony HX950. I'm not sure if you're truly not aware of this out of ignorance (if this is the case feel free to google till the cows come home but that's what you'll come up with) or if you're deliberately being intellectually dishonest out of bias but regardless this thread is not a sanctuary for your personal viewpoint.

What Vizio is attempting to do is to provide an uniform screen, eliminate light bleed and offer better black levels, contrast and shadow detail and do so with minimal blooming with their FALD designs. If it disturbs you too much for me to call that plasma like then I'll just say better PQ. It would make me very happy if Vizio was successful in their execution of the M and P series.

And by the way, the F8500 has LCD like brightness and full screen whites. So yeah, I would say Samsung was trying to make their flagship plasma more LCD like in terms of brightness.

I've have made it clear why I participate in this thread and Panasonic no longer manufacturing plasmas has no bearing on that. Then again most folks can figure out that I currently have a Samsung plasma.

I am in the same boat here as being a plasma owner (panisonic) and wanting to up my size. I have a lot older 50" screen now that is only 720p. For me the problem I had with LCD's were things like watching football and they pass the ball and it disappears until the picture slows down. It was very annoying. I have my plasma on the main level of my house about 5 feet from a window to the side. Never had an issue.

What I do have a problem with now is it is a 720p 50" screen. I am hoping that the P series from Vizio clears up a lot of my problems with LCD's. And to be honest the last year or 2 LCD's have looked better. I do not care about Heat and power consumption. For me it is all about PQ. 6-7 years ago LCD's didn't have it, and in recent years Plasma's didn't have 70-80" size.

Hoping that 4k will bring me out of the "dark" side.

The Sharpe Q+ interests me, but not being a true 4k set worries me as will all the "bridge" technologies.

I am in the same boat here as being a plasma owner (panisonic) and wanting to up my size. I have a lot older 50" screen now that is only 720p. For me the problem I had with LCD's were things like watching football and they pass the ball and it disappears until the picture slows down. It was very annoying. I have my plasma on the main level of my house about 5 feet from a window to the side. Never had an issue.

What I do have a problem with now is it is a 720p 50" screen. I am hoping that the P series from Vizio clears up a lot of my problems with LCD's. And to be honest the last year or 2 LCD's have looked better. I do not care about Heat and power consumption. For me it is all about PQ. 6-7 years ago LCD's didn't have it, and in recent years Plasma's didn't have 70-80" size.

Hoping that 4k will bring me out of the "dark" side.

The Sharpe Q+ interests me, but not being a true 4k set worries me as will all the "bridge" technologies.

Sorry you missed the FALD LED LCD TV'S that were out 6-7 years ago! You would have found out how close they came to Plasma black and had a better contrast with whiter whites!

I am in the same boat here as being a plasma owner (panisonic) and wanting to up my size. I have a lot older 50" screen now that is only 720p. For me the problem I had with LCD's were things like watching football and they pass the ball and it disappears until the picture slows down. It was very annoying. I have my plasma on the main level of my house about 5 feet from a window to the side. Never had an issue.

What I do have a problem with now is it is a 720p 50" screen. I am hoping that the P series from Vizio clears up a lot of my problems with LCD's. And to be honest the last year or 2 LCD's have looked better. I do not care about Heat and power consumption. For me it is all about PQ. 6-7 years ago LCD's didn't have it, and in recent years Plasma's didn't have 70-80" size.

Hoping that 4k will bring me out of the "dark" side.

The Sharpe Q+ interests me, but not being a true 4k set worries me as will all the "bridge" technologies.

Sorry you missed the FALD LED LCD TV'S that were out 6-7 years ago! You would have found out how close they came to Plasma black and had a better contrast with whiter whites!

I think we're going to surpass those old glory days this year. And at much lower prices to boot (despite larger screen sizes and 4K resolution)!

Sony 65" X950B $8000 (the one exception to my above statement - Sony is still pricing like it is 2008!)

The only tv that will even maybe come close to the Sharp Elite there is the elusive Vizio Reference series. All others have less than half the dimming zones of the Elite.

Oh really? How do you know that?

Toshiba and Sony aren't saying how many zones they have, but the 65" Toshiba should have >300 zones since they're claiming direct LED control. The 58" has 288 LEDs in the backlight. The 65 will need to have more LEDs to hit the same 700nit brightness. Something like 350+ LEDs.

Vizio 65" P Series $2200 (we'll see how a lowly 64 local dimming zones compare to 400-)

And then for those for whom plasma-like blacks are not a priority, there are a host of edge-lit 4K LED/LCDs...

The only tv that will even maybe come close to the Sharp Elite there is the elusive Vizio Reference series. All others have less than half the dimming zones of the Elite.

I think it is still too early for that statement to be considered factual.

The number of zones used by the Sony X950B is still unknown (and may be as many or more than the Elite).

The Toshiba L9400U appears to have the same number of zones as the Vizio Reference (and may be based on the same LCD panel/BLU)

It's not yet clear what 'Active Pixel Tuning' is and if there is new pixel-level compensation for dimming gradients, that could open up an entirely new level of performance, even with fewer 'zones'

Informed preliminary reviews from CES this year by folks like David Katzmier indicated that the Sony X950B and Vizio Reference Series were the best LED/LCD TVs they had ever seen (including the Elite).

I'm not saying your statement is not correct, but I am saying it is still too early to judge whether it is correct or not. The years VE Shootout should prove to be an important event to put debates like this to rest.

It's been quite some time since I made a post here and I just wanted to check in and ask some of the proud owners of the 50inch E500i-B1 what is the consensus amongst all of you in regards to this model? Given the fact that this model is now available in stock at AMAZON.COM by AMAZON as of today and has been available by TIGERDIRECT.COM, BESTBUY.COM, TARGET.COM and their stores since the beginning of April I wanted to know if some of you can please answer the following questions if possible from those that have had it for a while now:

1. Does HDMI Ports 3&4 on the E500i-B1 still lose the picture signal for a few seconds every few minutes for you like it does in the E500i-A1? my friends E500i-B1 loses the signal.

2. Does it still suffer from Ghosting/Clouding with certain scenes?

3. Also as far as Gaming and Sports is there any noticeable lag in your opinion? any Frame rate/motion blur issues?

4. How serious is the light bleed for you if your model has any?

5. In your opinion, are the speakers of the E500i-B1 slightly better than the E500i-A1's?

Is the menu and it's options any easier?

6. How does the screen deal with reflections from daylight or other lighting sources?

I am really having a difficult time deciding if I should purchase this model or wait for the upcoming 50inch M-Series M502i or even a different brand altogether? In your opinion would the M502i really be that much better than the E500i-B1? i already know I am not going to purchase the P-Series or any other UHD TV until all UHD industry growing pains are worked out. So what should I do?

I already have a disastrous History with VIZIO in regards to 2 back to back E500i-A1's in less than 30 days and I am afraid to purchase this new model because of the trouble I had with my E500i-A1's.

Can any of you please vouch for any build and picture quality improvements in the E500i-B1? So far from what I have seen in my friends model, it's just more of the same. Thank You for taking the time to read my post.

It's been quite some time since I made a post here and I just wanted to check in and ask some of the proud owners of the 50inch E500i-B1 what is the consensus amongst all of you in regards to this model? Given the fact that this model is now available in stock at AMAZON.COM by AMAZON as of today and has been available by TIGERDIRECT.COM, BESTBUY.COM, TARGET.COM and their stores since the beginning of April I wanted to know if some of you can please answer the following questions if possible from those that have had it for a while now:

1. Does HDMI Ports 3&4 on the E500i-B1 still lose the picture signal for a few seconds every few minutes for you like it does in the E500i-A1? my friends E500i-B1 loses the signal.

2. Does it still suffer from Ghosting/Clouding with certain scenes?

3. Also as far as Gaming and Sports is there any noticeable lag in your opinion? any Frame rate/motion blur issues?

4. How serious is the light bleed for you if your model has any?

5. In your opinion, are the speakers of the E500i-B1 slightly better than the E500i-A1's?
Is the menu and it's options any easier?

6. How does the screen deal with reflections from daylight or other lighting sources?

I am really having a difficult time deciding if I should purchase this model or wait for the upcoming 50inch M-Series M502i or even a different brand altogether? In your opinion would the M502i really be that much better than the E500i-B1? i already know I am not going to purchase the P-Series or any other UHD TV until all UHD industry growing pains are worked out. So what should I do?I already have a disastrous History with VIZIO in regards to 2 back to back E500i-A1's in less than 30 days and I am afraid to purchase this new model because of the trouble I had with my E500i-A1's.

Can any of you please vouch for any build and picture quality improvements in the E500i-B1? So far from what I have seen in my friends model, it's just more of the same. Thank You for taking the time to read my post.

I think it is still too early for that statement to be considered factual.

The number of zones used by the Sony X950B is still unknown (and may be as many or more than the Elite).

The Toshiba L9400U appears to have the same number of zones as the Vizio Reference (and may be based on the same LCD panel/BLU)

It's not yet clear what 'Active Pixel Tuning' is and if there is new pixel-level compensation for dimming gradients, that could open up an entirely new level of performance, even with fewer 'zones'

Informed preliminary reviews from CES this year by folks like David Katzmier indicated that the Sony X950B and Vizio Reference Series were the best LED/LCD TVs they had ever seen (including the Elite).

I'm not saying your statement is not correct, but I am saying it is still too early to judge whether it is correct or not. The years VE Shootout should prove to be an important event to put debates like this to rest.

I'm certainly rooting for all these televisions to do well especially the P series in terms of my wallet! And if the P series is no better than the M series as a 1080p display then I hope it's because the M series exceeded expectations and not because the P series didn't meet expectations. I know some will take this as an insult but I'll be satisfied if the P series is in the same ballpark as last year's best plasmas in terms of PQ since not dealing with the drawbacks of plasmas will more than compensate for a step down in overall PQ. I just can not except obviousness clouding, flashlighting and blooming issues.

Sorry you missed the FALD LED LCD TV'S that were out 6-7 years ago! You would have found out how close they came to Plasma black and had a better contrast with whiter whites!

The best LCD tv ever produced was the Sharp Elite. Even then, it was not up to the Kuro level of picture quality, and you have to watch it from a narrow viewing angle in order to really enjoy it.

Really? Here's the color tracking on one I calibrated. The customer had 3 70 inchers in the house. One I had him get replaced under warranty because the Color Management System didn't work. Yellow pixel indeed. lol

I think it is still too early for that statement to be considered factual.

The number of zones used by the Sony X950B is still unknown (and may be as many or more than the Elite).

The Toshiba L9400U appears to have the same number of zones as the Vizio Reference (and may be based on the same LCD panel/BLU)

It's not yet clear what 'Active Pixel Tuning' is and if there is new pixel-level compensation for dimming gradients, that could open up an entirely new level of performance, even with fewer 'zones'

Informed preliminary reviews from CES this year by folks like David Katzmier indicated that the Sony X950B and Vizio Reference Series were the best LED/LCD TVs they had ever seen (including the Elite).

I'm not saying your statement is not correct, but I am saying it is still too early to judge whether it is correct or not. The years VE Shootout should prove to be an important event to put debates like this to rest.

I'm certainly rooting for all these televisions to do well especially the P series in terms of my wallet! And if the P series is no better than the M series as a 1080p display then I hope it's because the M series exceeded expectations and not because the P series didn't meet expectations. I know some will take this as an insult but I'll be satisfied if the P series is in the same ballpark as last year's best plasmas in terms of PQ since not dealing with the drawbacks of plasmas will more than compensate for a step down in overall PQ. I just can not except obviousness clouding, flashlighting and blooming issues.